Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb has a career-high 1,651 receiving yards, with one game to play. He had a career-high 13 catches for a career-high 227 yards on Saturday night against the Lions.
Lamn does not yet have a new contract. He told reporters on Thursday that, when he gets one, he hopes it will make him the highest-paid receiver in football.
“Ideally, yeah, for sure,” Lamb said, via Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News. Lamb added that he’s currently focused on helping the Cowboys win a Super Bowl.
“After that, then we’ll start talking,” Lamb said.
Technically, they could start talking now. He became eligible for a new deal after the final game of the 2022 regular season. And while the longer the Cowboys wait the more expensive it might get, Lamb is carrying the risk of injury for every game he plays without a new deal.
The Cowboys don’t have to extend his contract. They can keep him under the fifth-year option in 2024, for only $17.991 million. After that, they could use the franchise tag.
That’s what the did to quarterback Dak Prescott. With Prescott in line for a massive extension (a cap number next year of nearly $60 million enhances his leverage) and with linebacker Micah Parsons eligible for a new deal after Sunday — and potentially not willing to wait — the Cowboys will have plenty to do in the offseason in order to keep key players happy while also managing the cap.
Technically, Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill is the highest-paid receiver, at $30 million per year in new money. That number is a little fugazi, however, because it’s pumped up by a $44.9 million compensation package in 2026, the final year of the deal.
That said, if Lamb wants to be the highest-paid receiver on paper, similar devices could be used to get him that designation. If the Cowboys are willing to go along.
The real question is whether the Cowboys are willing to commit massive long-term dollars to a receiver. They traded Amari Cooper in 2022 when he would have cost $20 million for another season. (They might regret that now.) With quality receivers prevalent throughout the draft (Puka Nacua was a fifth-round pick, for example), Lamb could be the player the Cowboys most likely target for hardball tactics, between Lamb, Prescott, and Parsons.
Whatever Dallas does, the cap charges will become top heavy for their star players sooner than later, making it even harder for the Cowboys have a team that competes at the highest possible level.